Swiss short film in competition in Venice/ Participation in independent Chinese film
25.08.2008
The graduate film “Ich träume nicht auf Deutsch” by Bosnian director Ivana Lalovic, who studied at the Zurich University of Arts, is among the 18 short films being screened in the “Corto Cortissimo” section of the competition at the 65th Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematograpfica (August 27–September 6, 2008). Scheduled to be screened in the “Orizzonti” programme is the independent documentary film “Women” by Chinese director Huang Wenhai. The film is a co-production with the German Swiss Broadcasting Service (SF).
Ivana Lalovic, born in Sarajevo in 1982, left the beleaguered city with her family during the war in ex-Yugoslavia and continued her studies in Zurich in 1995. The graduate of the Film study programme at the Zurich University of Arts returns to Sarajevo in her 15-minute graduate film “Ich träume nicht auf Deutsch”: a 17-year-old employee at a noble hotel and restaurant meets a 43-year-old Bosnian who lives in exile in Switzerland and is in Sarajevo on a business trip. They become more intimately acquainted, without knowing what awaits them the following morning.
Huang Wenhai, born in the Hunan Province in 1971, began his studies in cinematography at the Film Academy in Peking in 1995 and worked as a journalist for CCTV Broadcasting Station. He has worked as an independent director and film producer since 2001. His film “Mend You” (“Dream Walking”) was awarded the Grand Prize at Festival Cinéma du Réel in Paris in 2006. In his film “Women”, Huang Wenhai tracks the attempts made by individuals to initiate democracy. One of the people portrayed in the film is the 90-year-old Li Rui, who has been a member of the Communist Party since 1937 and was the former secretary to Mao Tse-tung, is among the resolute advocates for a democratic transformation in the Chinese society. The film was shot independent of governmental structures and was made possible thanks to the support of the German Swiss Broadcasting Service (SF).
Zurich, August 25, 2008
Huang Wenhai, born in the Hunan Province in 1971, began his studies in cinematography at the Film Academy in Peking in 1995 and worked as a journalist for CCTV Broadcasting Station. He has worked as an independent director and film producer since 2001. His film “Mend You” (“Dream Walking”) was awarded the Grand Prize at Festival Cinéma du Réel in Paris in 2006. In his film “Women”, Huang Wenhai tracks the attempts made by individuals to initiate democracy. One of the people portrayed in the film is the 90-year-old Li Rui, who has been a member of the Communist Party since 1937 and was the former secretary to Mao Tse-tung, is among the resolute advocates for a democratic transformation in the Chinese society. The film was shot independent of governmental structures and was made possible thanks to the support of the German Swiss Broadcasting Service (SF).
Zurich, August 25, 2008